Marketing Tips Blog

How to Create Social Media Images That Connect With Your Audience

Liv Paige - Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Are you sharing visual content on social media?
Do your images stand out? Creating and curating clever visual content can engage your audience on a personal level.
The more consumers relate to you and your company, the more likely
they will invest in your social media presence and your brand. [Source: SocialMediaExaminer.com]

In this article you’ll discover seven ways to connect with your audience using social media images.

Discover how to create social media images that connect with your audience.

#1: Create Impact With Company Screenshots

Screenshots are a powerful way to share insights and information about your company,
since they make your audience feel as if they’re right there with you.
Use screenshots to create unique, engaging content that will intrigue
your fans.

In this Twitter post Buffer treats fans to the inner workings of one
of its growth experiments by showing two screenshots of an A/B tested
email.

Give fans insights into your company with screenshots.

The screenshots act as evidence and a visual representation of the
experiment, which gives meaning to the collected data. The text that
accompanies the post is short, yet effective. It provides a hook for the
article, but lets the screenshots speak mostly for themselves.

Use infographics to compile facts and figures visually into one powerful message. Image: Placeit.

Infographics allow you to create an impact and capture the attention of your followers with just one image.

#3: Get Personal With Behind-the-Scenes Shots

Your followers see your logo on their social media feed and your
products in real life, but there’s so much they don’t know about their
favorite brands. How exactly how does Hershey’s make their chocolate
kisses? Who voices the Geico gecko? What is your brand’s unknown?

Give your audience a glimpse of who you really are with behind-the-scenes pictures from your company.

Nasty Gal
clothing CEO Sophia Amoruso regularly appears on the company’s social
media pages to show that they are not “just another fashion retailer.”
By connecting with her fans on a personal level, Amoruso humanizes the
Nasty Gal brand. She encourages audiences to connect as a friend, rather
than a business, which boosts engagement tenfold.

Engage your fans on a personal level by showing them you’re just like them.

Use images to put a face to your name. This helps people better visualize your brand, so you can create a strong and lasting rapport with your audience.

#4: Stimulate the Imagination With Action Shots

Images that feature your product in action can ignite a spark of imagination from your followers and encourage them to engage with your content.

This
image of Gatorade being spilled from its bottle leads followers to
imagine it in real time. It gives the impression of a video.

Consumers’ minds instantly process the series of events that led up
to this moment (the action and energy that caused the bottle to spill),
as well as the events that follow (the splatter of blue liquid; the
color, smell and taste).

Without realizing it, we become engaged with the product and brand by
filling in the blanks. Take and share photos that inspire the same
reaction.

#5: Inspire With Quote Graphics

Quote graphics encourage your audience to stop, reflect and engage
with your content. These are some of the most shared images on social
media, since they relate to wide ranges of audiences.

Create visually appealing quote graphics with an edge of style that suits your brand. They can be used for just about any purpose: to inspire, advocate, entertain, intrigue, etc.

In this quote from L’Oreal Paris USA’s Twitter they’ve chosen a font that matches the tone of their message: handwritten text for a very personal quote. Carefully style your quote, so your audience wants to become part of the conversation and share what the words mean to them.

Choose fonts, colors and images that relate to the message of your quote.

Remember, always post with purpose. Think about what each particular
quote says about your brand and decide if that message is relatable to
your target audience. If you’re happy with the quote, then turn it into a
stylish graphic that brings the words to life.

#6: Be Unique With Original Designs

Want to get lost in the crowd? Jump on the bandwagon and post visual
content that is almost identical to other brands and accounts. This is a
huge mistake many social media accounts make.

Some images are popular or funny for a reason, but chances are your
audience has already seen this content a multitude of times before
viewing your take on it. Provide original visual content that’s tailored to your audience instead of replicating what was popular elsewhere.

Create unique images.
Share photos that highlight your brand personality or the people behind
it or design your own graphics from templates to look professional
while generating massive appeal.

Come up with a unique idea for an image that reflects your brand and run with it!

Find your tone and share images that fit with your brand. Remember: anybody can replicate content that is already popular. Stand out by creating original and adventurous visuals!

#7: Experiment With Different Color Palettes and Fonts

There are plenty of design tricks you can use to improve your
graphics, so your fans stop their mindless scrolling and engage with
your posts.

What feelings, emotions and sentiments do you want to evoke from your
social media audience? Do you want something fun and summery? Try some
reds, oranges and warm browns. Are you looking for something calming and
soft? Try faded colors, pastels and pale hues. Inspire a feeling with a
carefully chosen palette.

After you find images you like, use a color picker tool to extract different hues and create a mood.

Just as colors conjure up certain emotions, so can certain fonts. You
probably wouldn’t use an elegant script typeface to advertise a rock
and roll concert, would you? Consider your context, tone and audience
and pick a font to suit.

Choose fonts that reflect the style and tone you’re trying to convey.

When toying around with font pairing, keep a few things in mind: Use high contrast between type and background. Also, choose typefaces that are easy to read and complement each other.

Over to You

Everyone wants their company’s images to stand out on social media. To use visuals to increase engagement, create graphics for your social networks that speak to your audience.

Research design techniques and visual content apps,
as well as what works for other brands, so you can experiment and
figure out what images best resonate with your audience. Above all else,
remember to be original!

What do you think? What do you do to connect with your
audience using visual images? How do you make your images stand out?
What are your favorite examples of good graphics? Please share your thoughts in the comments.